Minister Eoghan Murphy hits back at Sinn Féin ‘stunt’

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy has lashed out at Sinn Féin’s motion of no confidence in his handling of the homelessness crisis, saying the “stunt” is about “getting headlines for themselves” and will fail to take “a single person off our streets”.

Minister Eoghan Murphy hits back at Sinn Féin ‘stunt’

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy has lashed out at Sinn Féin’s motion of no confidence in his handling of the homelessness crisis, saying the “stunt” is about “getting headlines for themselves” and will fail to take “a single person off our streets”.

Mr Murphy launched the pre-emptive attack as Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin hit out at his record in charge, which has seen a 20%, 25%, and 40% surge in adult, child, and pensioner homelessness rates respectively.

In a Dáil motion due to be voted on tomorrow, Sinn Féin has called for Mr Murphy to be sacked from Cabinet amid claims he is incapable of solving the crisis.

However, speaking after protests in Dublin and other cities at the weekend aiming to force the Government to act on the homelessness crisis, Mr Murphy insisted the Dáil vote is little more than a publicity “stunt”.

“Sinn Féin has spent months playing bad politics and talking about a motion of no confidence in me,” he said.

“Their primary aim is to garner attention and headlines for themselves. The motion put forward is totally devoid of solutions and will not take a single person off our streets, out of emergency accommodation or into a permanent home. The stunt offers nothing constructive.”

“On the ground, Sinn Féin is voting against the provision of social, affordable, and private housing. They are actively blocking homes for those that need them.

“In a minority government situation, Sinn Féin could have spent all this wasted time getting support from the Oireachtas for their housing plan. They did not because they do not have a plan.”

Speaking earlier on RTE’s The Week in Politics, Mr Ó Broin said that, regardless of Government spin, the reality is Mr Murphy has presided over a complete failure in the Department of Housing.

Citing official figures, Mr Ó Broin said that, since Mr Murphy has taken office, overall homeless levels have risen by 20%, while child and pensioner homelessness levels have soared by 25% and 40% respectively.

Mr O’Broin said bluntly “he [Mr Murphy] needs to go and the Government’s policy needs to go”, and pointed to both last weekend’s protests and an upcoming protest outside Leinster House as proof of public anger over the housing and homelessness crises.

However, Mr Murphy’s position and record was strongly defended by European Affairs Minister Helen McEntee, who said the homelessness crisis should not become a personal attack on one minister who is trying to fix the problem.

Large numbers attended the protests against the homelessness crisis in Dublin, Galway, and other cities on Saturday, with protesters blocking O’Connell Bridge for more than an hour in a sit-down protest.

The demonstration was organised by the Take Back the City group, which has occupied a number of vacant properties in Dublin in recent weeks in order to highlight the scale of buildings which are lying idle while the crises escalate.

The campaign has led to a potential vacant property tax being put back on the agenda during talks between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil over next month’s budget.

However, an independent report last week suggesting increasing the number of compulsory purchase order may prove more effective than a vacant property tax.

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